My niece, Alicia Surveyer, has been working with some very interesting design motifs – silhouettes, shadows and reflection. There is a touch of avuncular bias but also a broader view of an artist taking the Group of Seven, especially Lawren Harris’ later works, into a new direction. These elements can be seen in recent paintings by Alicia.
Bolsena Dusk
This painting has a wonderful silhouette masking where clouds and limbs intermix, sumptuous colors, and a subtle reflection of those sunset colors in the waters. The mood and hues are reflective.
Vermillion Lake
This is on of the most design playful of Alicia’s paintings with 3 stripped tree trunks, a mountain that could be an ominous cloud, a sun ray that becomes a pointing cloud – and it all looks like a landscape sailing through the scene and time. Such great visual puns bring a smile to ones eye and mind.
Out of the Shadows
This is one of my favorites for its bold convention breaking design and colors. It is a roadside shadowed by shading from trees in Color. But the simplified design with the tree trunks and branches in front and the crimson leaves behind in the style of a medieval painting gets tricked into revelation by the shadow. The use of polygon but proportionate lighter areas gives the depth and shading cues to pull the piece together. Lovely with a dash of lemon.
To see a full selection Alicia’s paintings visit here.
I really love them all. Nice bold color use, very clean and modern feel- beautiful.
Julie – Such comments warm the hearts of avuncular enthusiast and Alicia both. Alicia more recent work has been exploring using marker pens totem-like drawings but still with a penchant for dramatic color combinations and shadings. Also she is doing a few more etchings; her work here can be magnificent but as you know – I am biased. Again, thanks for the kind words. – Jack